Christina Julios - Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media

Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media

This book explores the phenomenon of anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) social media activism. Against a backdrop of over 200 million girls and women worldwide affected by FGM, the volume examines key global online campaigns to end the practice, involving leading virtual platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Drawing on twenty-one fieldwork interviews with anti-FGM activists, frontline practitioners and survivors, the volume investigates opportunities and challenges inherent to cyberspace. These include online FGM bans as well as practices such as cyber-misogyny and clicktivism.

Global campaigns featured include the UNs International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, the WHOs Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme, The Girl Generation, The Guardians End FGM Global Media Campaign and the Massai Cricket Warriors. Furthermore, ten case studies document prominent anti-FGM campaigners. First, five African-led narratives from celebrated activists: Efua Dorkenoo OBE, Waris Dirie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jaha Mapenzi Dukureh and Leyla Hussein. Second, five accounts from FGM survivors interviewed for the book: Mama Sylla, Masooma Ranalvi, Farzana Doctor, Fatou Baldeh and Mariya Taher.

By exploring anti-FGM online activism, this book fills a gap in the literature which has largely overlooked FGMs presence in cyberspace as a virtual social movement. Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media will be of interest to activists, survivors, frontline professionals, students, academics and the wider public.

Christina Julios is an Honorary Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London. She is also an Honorary Associate at The Open University and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Previously, Dr Julios was Director of Policy and External Affairs at the Ethnic Minority Foundation and has taught at Queen Mary, University of London. She is the author of Forced Marriage and Honour Killings in Britain: Private Lives, Community Crimes and Public Policy Perspectives (Ashgate, 2015); and Contemporary British Identity: English Language, Migrants and Public Discourse (Ashgate, 2008).

Christina Julioss Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media is that rare thing: a rigorously researched and brilliantly argued scholarly book which manages to be immensely readable. Julios writes about the power and limitations of anti-FGM cyberactivism, considering its at times fraught relationship with offline grassroots campaigns. Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media is a guide to the complex discourses circulating around FGM in both real and virtual worlds; it examines narratives of cultural practice, religious belief, and gendered behaviour through an intersectional, interdisciplinary prism. This is a book which will surely play a vital role in ending the global human rights abuse that is FGM.

This book draws valuable attention to the insights of grassroots activists who have taken the lead in making sure ending FGC continues to be located at the heart of the global human rights agenda. By bringing together FGC and cyberactivism, Christina Julios examines the ways anti-FGC campaigning has evolved over time to address todays global virtual audiences. Importantly, this book not only discusses the barriers to the abandonment of FGC, but it further contributes to the much-needed discussions on the challenges faced by the womens sector around the world.

Female Genital Mutilation and Social Media is the first book to examine the epic impact of social media on advocacy efforts to end this form of gender violence. With social media inherent to our everyday existence, Christina Julios digs deep to examine how cyberactivism builds support to enact laws and create outreach and educational programs, as well as how it has led to new challenges such as spreading of cyber-misogyny in virtual public spaces by proponents of FGM/C. This book is a needed first step in understanding the fight to uphold our human rights in todays virtual world.

Christina Julios

The right of Christina Julios to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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I am indebted to many people who have generously contributed with their time and expertise to this book. Whether anti-FGM activists, practitioners or survivors, their stories have served as a powerful reminder of the scale and human cost of FGM. Their online social media presence has furthermore highlighted the opportunities and challenges faced by gender activists in cyberspace. Above all, the commitment shown by these individuals to eradicate FGM and safeguard human rights is truly inspirational. I would like to thank them all for their courage and invaluable insights.

During the writing of the book, I had the privilege to interview twenty-one individuals and speak with many others involved in the fight to end FGM. The fieldwork for the volume specifically comprised nine face-to-face interviews conducted in London, UK, and twelve personal written narratives submitted via an online interview questionnaire both in Britain and abroad, including various African countries as well as India and the United States. All those taking part in the research have kindly and enthusiastically shared their knowledge and experiences of FGM. Special thanks are due to five FGM survivors-turned-activists who shared their personal stories for the book, namely Mama Sylla, Chairwoman of La Fraternite Guineenne (Guinea) (Sylla, 2017); Masooma Ranalvi, Convenor of We Speak Out (India) (Ranalvi, 2017); Farzana Doctor, Member of We Speak Out (India) (Doctor, 2017); Fatou Baldeh, Trustee of Dignity Alert and Research Forum (DARF) (Edinburgh, UK) (Baldeh, 2017) and Mariya Taher, Co-founder of Sahiyo and Member of U.S. Network to End FGM/C (USA) (Taher, 2017). I am also grateful to the rest of the contributors whose input has greatly benefited this volume. I would like to acknowledge: Jennette Arnold OBE, Deputy Chair of the London Assembly and anti-FGM campaigner (Arnold, 2017); Joy Clarke, award-winning FGM Specialist Midwife who set up an African Well-Womens Clinic (AWWC) at Whittington Health, NHS Trust in London (Clarke, 2017); Maggie OKane, award-wining former Foreign Correspondent Multimedia Investigations Editor of